One thing I don't like here is how everything is all praise God this and Lord Jesus that. Now I'm not a Christian, but I'm pretty tolerant of a lot of organized religions unless they start getting fanatical and forcing it down people's throats. On a recent project, I was tasked to put together a calendar to go out to our clients. I pulled together some important dates and holidays and sent it out to the staff for proofing. Immediately, I get back e-mails like the following:

"What is ros hashannaha? do we need to include this?"
"I don't know what Ramadan is. Take it off, please."
"Cinco de Mayo — which is Mexican Independence Day — should be on May 5, not September 16."

First of all, May 5 is the Battle of Puebla…you know, I won't even go there; y'all are smart folks. I go through the throes of explaining how we should cater to all of our customers and that most modern calendars would have these same dates. I even show them my At-A-Glance desk calendar with the holidays all listed out. Micro-Manager says, "Well, I guess since we do have some Jews that work here and as some of our clients — you know this — we should include Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But what is Ramadan?"

"It's the month of fasting for those of the Islamic faith."

"Really? How do you know that?"

Because I graduated from college, you ingrate.

"Who doesn't know that? Islam is the second largest religion in the world. I think we should include when Ramadan begins, which this year happens to be on Rosh Hashanah."

"Well what do the Ramadanians do during that time?" she says while giggling. Yes folks…Ramadanians. For this reason alone, I should smack her upside her head, but instead I roll my eyes and say "It's a time of worship. They fast and they visit family and work in their community."

"Oh, so it's like Easter?"

"No…it's like Ramadan."

"But if you were comparing it to Christianity…"

"Why would I compare it to Christianity? They're two separate religions!"

"Well, I don't think we should include it — we have to think about National Security."

"National Security? It's a calendar, not a manifesto."

We went back and forth about this for a good 10 minutes before she stormed out of the office growling.

Ramadan never made it to the calendar.